Creatives with an ambition to set up their own business in the creative industries are being offered the chance to get expert advice from their peers through a new support programme.
The short compact one-hour sessions, will run over three consecutive nights and focus on subjects such as business planning and starting out, marketing techniques and day-to-day activities such as managing money and workload.
The short programme, which is free to register for anyone in West Yorkshire, is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and delivered by Huddersfield-based Wilson’s Republic. The format is a modified version of their popular Creative Bubbles support network.
Wilson’s Republic co-founder Aidan Nolan said: “Creative Bubbles x Start-ups is for anyone who is thinking about or would like to run their own creative business.
“Making the leap to going it alone can be daunting but our sessions are designed to make it less scary by discussing the issues and providing advice and guidance on how to tackle them. Participants will be much better informed about what lies ahead of them.”
The programme is open to West Yorkshire residents; participants may be currently employed, unemployed or recent graduates.
They could be working in a creative (or non-creative) business already but have an ambition to flex their creative muscles either as a freelancer, sole trader or maybe something bigger.
The online sessions are run early in the evening in a relaxed and open setting, supported by those who have been through the process of setting up a creative business themselves.
Katy Ennis-Hargreaves, director at Wilson’s Republic, said: “West Yorkshire has a hotbed of creative talent but there’s not much in the way of tailored support for those with an ambition to go it alone.
“Over the last three years we’ve learned a lot about what creative businesses need. Nobody teaches you how to be a freelancer, we need to redress that balance.”
The programme runs from early June with a limited number of places available. More information can be found at https://www.creative-bubbles.co.uk/bubblesxstartups or contact hello@wilsonsrepublic.com.
